Chef Tim Love from 'Top Chef Masters' showed up Thursday on 'Today' (weekdays, 7AM on NBC) to put his urban western touch on rainbow trout, and Savannah Guthrie got a tad sentimental about it. Love had prepared some Chorizo, garlic, chili, and sweet potatoes with which to stuff the little guy, and had gutted him beforehand.

As Love began to put the filling in the fish and sew it up, Guthrie looked down and said, "He's looking at us." Love joked that he had been talking to the fish earlier, and it had noticed Guthrie didn't like him looking at her. But where Love saw a tasty meal, Guthrie saw only sadness. "I feel like he might have some hopes and dreams and they've come to a terrible end," she said.

After the trout was cooked (and his eye put back in its socket), she didn't seem to have a problem shoveling it in. But if you pause the video there, just at the end, you can see the tears just starting in her eyes.

In a segment sure to provoke mock-patriotic outrage from Stephen Colbert, French chef Ludo Levebvre appeared on 'Today' (weekdays, 7AM ET on NBC) and made a pork shoulder in a salt crust, North Carolina-style. But at least Levebre has American TV credits: He is the star of the Sundance Channel's 'Ludo Bites America,' has been on 'Top Chef Masters,' and is known as the "king of the pop up restaurants."

Showing the audience how to make the dish on the "Today's Kitchen: Step-By-Step" segment, Levebvre made the crust with salt, flour, water, and canola oil and wrapped it around a pork shoulder with the bone still in it. "It's better with the bone because you get more flavor," he said.

The contestant who seemed to struggle the most in the beginning pulled it together in the end to win the third season of 'Top Chef Masters' (Wed., 10PM ET on BRAVO).

The final three contestants were tasked with cooking and preparing an epic three-course meal, and the judges rewarded the chef whose meal had the highest level of quality over the three courses.

On the semi-finals of 'Top Chef Masters' (Wed., 10PM ET on Bravo), the four remaining chefs got to cook a buffet-style meal for service personnel coming back from tours of duty and their families. Each had to incorporate into the meal the dish their serviceman or woman missed the most while away.

It was a fitting tribute to our fighting forces as 'Top Chef Masters' heads into the homestretch, though the challenge was decidedly more difficult for some chefs than others, as it pulled them farther from their comfort zones, and some of the favored dishes were a little less-than-ordinary.

!!SPOILER ALERT!!

In the eighth week of competition on 'Top Chef Masters' (Wed., 10PM ET on Bravo), the chefs were tasked with a breakfast challenge, using a microwave. This is far harder than you might think if you break down all the traditional breakfast foods. This isn't a toaster pastry after all.

Later, they took on a science-based challenge, with each chef being presented with a lab assistant and ingredients representing a scientific principle. The goal was to make a meal that was delicious as well as demonstrating the principle.

Padma Lakshmi joined the judging panel on this challenge, which netted some interesting results. Do we really need to incorporate a science lesson into a cooking show?

We're not sure at what point in a chef's career they'll have to try and make a gourmet meal on a tour bus, but it was sure fun watching the contestants try on 'Top Chef Masters' (Wed., 10PM ET on Bravo).

From the way the Black Team's driver was lurching around turns and slamming the brakes on, it was as if he was deliberately trying to sabotage them. Of course, details like remembering to lock the refrigerator when it's not being used would have saved the eggs from tumbling to the ground.

"We had a driver who was 140 years old and liked to take corners way too fast," Hugh Acheson said.

With Curtis Stone hosting 'Top Chef Masters' (Wed., 10PM ET on Bravo), it was really only a matter of time before the show hooked up with 'The Biggest Loser.' This week was that moment, as everyone from the weight-loss competition showed up to sample the chef's wares, with Alison Sweeney actually on hand to judge.

It was like stepping into a time machine for fans of 'The Biggest Loser,' as Courtney and everyone who's already been cut after her was still there.

It must have been a fun day for the 'Loser' contestants as they got to order what they wanted from these world-class chefs.

Unfortunately for Irene, Suvir decided that instead of giving her a low-cal hamburger with bacon and cheese, he'd give her a vegetable concoction that she wasn't impressed by.

Warning: Don't watch this while you're eating.

On 'Top Chef Masters' (Wed., 10PM ET on BRAVO), the Quickfire challenge required contestants to create gourmet dishes with crickets, scorpions, nightcrawlers, hornworms and other (not so) delectable bugs.

"I'm grossed out," admitted George Mendes. "I'm fully aware that these insects have a lot of nutrients, vitamins. But if there's a bug that turns up in my apartment, I kill it." He went on to make coconut milk and hornworm soup. "Bleh."

Alex Stratta had a different take: "These are bugs that have been eaten in cultures as long as we've been eating chicken."

On 'Top Chef Masters' (Wed., 10PM ET on BRAVO), the cheftestants learned that sometimes, timing is everything.

The challenge was to take some classic dishes from the 1960s, give them a modern twist and serve them as appetizers to 'Mad Men's' Christina Hendricks and husband Geoffrey Arend (who both admitted to hating '60s food).

Everyone crowded into the kitchen. There were some successful efforts, but some big flops too. In the bottom three, Alex Stratta was told, "Your bread puddings were quite disappointing and very undelicious." And Suvir Saran's unintentional deep-fried veal was "too tough for words."

But in the end, it was the fact that Sue Zemanick helped other contestants that sent her packing her knives. She didn't have enough time to finish her own dish. "I'm disappointed and sad, but I didn't get my food on the plate in time so I think it was a fair decision," she said.

In the third-season premiere of 'Top Chef Masters' (Wed., 11PM ET on BRAVO), the 12 contestants' first Elimination Challenge was a Restaurant War. Team Leela impressed the three judges critics on the appetizer, but then disaster struck. The main course was "missing in action."

"The critics' tickets [came] in right at the busiest time of the whole evening," but the chefs working the kitchen eventually dropped all other orders to cook the dishes that would really count.

Unfortunately, their entrees were decidedly not worth the wait. The lamb was too rare. And Curtis Stone discovered an apple slice still had the sticker on it!

['Top Chef Masters' - 'Restaurant Wars']

Never let it be said that Bravo is resting on their laurels when it comes to the 'Top Chef' franchise. Just a week after 'Top Chef All-Stars' wrapped, here comes 'Top Chef Masters.' This is the third season, and the producers have revamped the concept dramatically.

The new host is Aussie chef Curtis Stone, who's also on NBC's 'America's Next Great Restaurant,' so either he's totally determined to be a star, or somebody at NBC Universal is invested in his success.

Even if ABC waited too long to air their complete Charlie Sheen interview on last night's special '20/20,' as I speculated yesterday, it didn't seem to matter all that much.

According to Deadline.com, ABC won the Tuesday at 10PM timeslot in the 18–49 demo, attracting 9.5 million viewers. '20/20' almost doubled the rating of its lead-in, 'V,' and it gave the Alphabet net its best ratings in that time slot in two years.

Are we ever going to tire of Charlie Sheen mania? Probably. But for now, Sheen continues to be "Winning!", as he is saying on Twitter and all over the media landscape. And now that he's had his twin boys taken away from him, the story doesn't seem like it'll go away anytime soon.

In other TV news...

• Christina Aguilera joins Cee Lo Green and Adam Levine as a coach on NBC's 'The Voice.' The series premieres on April 26. Hopefully, Aguilera's current legal problems won't interfere with the taping of the show. [NBC]

Showtime's first lady of comedy, Nancy Botwin, will be back with all new 'Weeds' episodes starting Mon., June 27 at 10PM. She's not alone: Laura Linney will be back in her Golden Globe-winning role on 'The Big C' the same day at 10:30PM.

Deadline Hollywood reports both programs will have 13 episodes. 'Secret Diary of a Call Girl' will return for an 8-episode final season on April 7 at 10:30PM and reality series 'The Real L Word' returns June 5 at 10 PM for 9 episodes season)

Among the series premieres is Lisa Kudrow's 'Web Therapy' on July 19 at 11PM and 'Gigolos' on April 7 at 11PM.

In other TV news ...

• Ashley Judd has officially signed to star in ABC's 'Missing.' Judd will play Becca Winstone, a former CIA agent who travels to Europe to track down her missing son. [Deadline Hollywood]

• 'Deadliest Catch' will premiere April 12 at 9PM. Season 7 will see Josh and Jake Harris try to prove to the crew that they can handle operating the Cornelia Marie. Watch a NSFW trailer at the source. [Entertainment Weekly]

• Christina Hendricks will appear on Bravo's 'Top Chef Masters.' The 'Mad Men' actress will be part of a 'Mad Men'-themed challenge. [Entertainment Weekly]

'Project Runway' needs a little something to "make it work" again, and the fashion competition would benefit from taking a page from the 'American Idol' book by shaking up its judges panel. (Sorry, Nina Garcia and Michael Kors, but where are the fireworks?)

All the 'American Idol' speculation has created even more buzz around the show. That's one benefit, but hopefully new judges will also take the show to a whole new entertainment level.

And 'Idol' is not alone when it comes to reality shows that have gotten stale. Far from it, actually. From 'Project Runway' to various dance competitions, here are six shows that could use some new blood.